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Smart Cities, Volume 2, Issue 4 (December 2019) – 6 articles

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11 pages, 1064 KiB  
Article
Smart Cities—A View of Societal Aspects
by Vasile Baltac
Smart Cities 2019, 2(4), 538-548; https://doi.org/10.3390/smartcities2040033 - 09 Dec 2019
Cited by 30 | Viewed by 7625
Abstract
Smart city projects are considered real challenges to the development of cities everywhere. The concept itself has many definitions, but a smart city should be defined less based on implemented IT solutions, and more based on optimization of its basic functions using new [...] Read more.
Smart city projects are considered real challenges to the development of cities everywhere. The concept itself has many definitions, but a smart city should be defined less based on implemented IT solutions, and more based on optimization of its basic functions using new technologies. There are societal aspects of smart city implementations, similar to eGovernment early projects, and aspects of the use of digital technology that raise concerns. In most cities, the digital divide is still a problem. Smart city projects are the result of the fourth industrial revolution, but cities still lack a full implementation of solutions derived from previous industrial revolutions. Despite that, cities report a lot of smart city projects. Money still gets spent, as being a smart city is, in many cases, an artificial priority and a fashionable topic. Moreover, non-Internet technologies and their relations to a good smart city solution are also not considered. Digital divide bridging is one requirement for a full implementation of a smart city concept. A review of acceleration and deceleration factors shows the obstacles faced by smart city projects. Rankings of cities based on several smart city criteria are published frequently. Various approaches lead to contradictory rankings. A new set of comprehensive rankings developed by an international organization and based on reputable reports and statistics would be useful. The study is based on several smart city and eGovernment projects in Romania. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Public Management and Governance in Smart Cities)
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16 pages, 4972 KiB  
Article
Urban Systems Design: A Conceptual Framework for Planning Smart Communities
by Michael B. Tobey, Robert B. Binder, Soowon Chang, Takahiro Yoshida, Yoshiki Yamagata and Perry P. J. Yang
Smart Cities 2019, 2(4), 522-537; https://doi.org/10.3390/smartcities2040032 - 19 Nov 2019
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 10567
Abstract
Urban systems design arises from disparate current planning approaches (urban design, Planning Support Systems, and community engagement), compounded by the reemergence of rational planning methods from new technology (Internet of Things (IoT), metric based analysis, and big data). The proposed methods join social [...] Read more.
Urban systems design arises from disparate current planning approaches (urban design, Planning Support Systems, and community engagement), compounded by the reemergence of rational planning methods from new technology (Internet of Things (IoT), metric based analysis, and big data). The proposed methods join social considerations (Human Well-Being), environmental needs (Sustainability), climate change and disaster mitigation (Resilience), and prosperity (Economics) as the four foundational pillars. Urban systems design integrates planning methodologies to systematically tackle urban challenges, using IoT and rational methods, while human beings form the core of all analysis and objectives. Our approach utilizes an iterative three-phase development loop to contextualize, evaluate, plan and design scenarios for the specific needs of communities. An equal emphasis is placed on feedback loops through analysis and design, to achieve the end goal of building smart communities. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Big Data-Driven Intelligent Services in Smart Cities)
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10 pages, 284 KiB  
Article
Wicked Problems of Smart Cities
by Johan Colding, Stephan Barthel and Patrik Sörqvist
Smart Cities 2019, 2(4), 512-521; https://doi.org/10.3390/smartcities2040031 - 07 Nov 2019
Cited by 33 | Viewed by 8308
Abstract
It is often uncritically assumed that, when digital technologies are integrated into the operation of city functions, they inevitably contribute to sustainable urban development. Such a notion rests largely on the belief that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) solutions pave the way for [...] Read more.
It is often uncritically assumed that, when digital technologies are integrated into the operation of city functions, they inevitably contribute to sustainable urban development. Such a notion rests largely on the belief that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) solutions pave the way for more democratic forms of planning, and that ‘smart’ technological devices result in a range of environmental benefits, e.g., energy efficiency and the mitigation of global warming. Drawing on the scientific literature that deals with ‘smart cities’, we here elaborate on how both propositions fail to consider drawbacks that could be characterized as ‘wicked’, i.e., problems that lack simplistic solutions and straightforward planning responses, and which often come about as ‘management surprises’, as a byproduct of achieving sustainability. We here deal with problems related to public choice constraints, ‘non-choice default technologies’ and the costs of automation for human learning and resilience. To avoid undemocratic forms of planning and too strong a dependence on non-choice default technologies, e.g., smart phones, we recommend that planners and policy makers safeguard redundancy in public-choice options by maintaining a wide range of alternative choices, including analog ones. Resilience thinking could help planners deal more effectively with the ‘wickedness’ of an increasingly hyper-connected society. Full article
16 pages, 2839 KiB  
Article
A Methodology to Model Integrated Smart City System from the Information Perspective
by Jules Muvuna, Tuleen Boutaleb, Keith J Baker and Slobodan B Mickovski
Smart Cities 2019, 2(4), 496-511; https://doi.org/10.3390/smartcities2040030 - 06 Nov 2019
Cited by 18 | Viewed by 8098
Abstract
Rapid urban population growth challenges cities and sustainable urban development. Despite the effort deployed with conventional urban design, the current solutions are unable to significantly respond to existing challenges. The concept of smart city (SC) has been gaining popularity and cities have developed [...] Read more.
Rapid urban population growth challenges cities and sustainable urban development. Despite the effort deployed with conventional urban design, the current solutions are unable to significantly respond to existing challenges. The concept of smart city (SC) has been gaining popularity and cities have developed strong interest for transformation into SCs. However, given that a city is both a complex system of systems and a dynamic complex environment, achieving a state of SC can be challenging. Urban transformation into smart city has been straggling and has shown contrasting and disconnected views. Many studies have covered the design and modelling of an SC, but their focus has been mostly thematic and lack an integrated view of a smart city system. This study presents a methodology helped by a Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) approach and Systems Modelling Language (SysML) to develop a model of an integrated SC system. The model brings all subsystems to operate together in one system and focuses on the information perspective of a city system. Three scenarios are presented to illustrate how an integrated information platform can be a gateway and easy access to information in an SC system, as well as a starting point towards modelling an integrated SC system. Full article
(This article belongs to the Section Smart Urban Infrastructures)
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25 pages, 5336 KiB  
Article
Estimation of Energy Activity and Flexibility Range in Smart Active Residential Building
by Viktor Stepaniuk, Jayakrishnan Radhakrishna Pillai, Birgitte Bak-Jensen and Sanjeevikumar Padmanaban
Smart Cities 2019, 2(4), 471-495; https://doi.org/10.3390/smartcities2040029 - 04 Nov 2019
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3404
Abstract
The smart active residential buildings play a vital role to realize intelligent energy systems by harnessing energy flexibility from loads and storage units. This is imperative to integrate higher proportions of variable renewable energy generation and implement economically attractive demand-side participation schemes. The [...] Read more.
The smart active residential buildings play a vital role to realize intelligent energy systems by harnessing energy flexibility from loads and storage units. This is imperative to integrate higher proportions of variable renewable energy generation and implement economically attractive demand-side participation schemes. The purpose of this paper is to develop an energy management scheme for smart sustainable buildings and analyze its efficacy when subjected to variable generation, energy storage management, and flexible demand control. This work estimate the flexibility range that can be reached utilizing deferrable/controllable energy system units such as heat pump (HP) in combination with on-site renewable energy sources (RESs), namely photovoltaic (PV) panels and wind turbine (WT), and in-house thermal and electric energy storages, namely hot water storage tank (HWST) and electric battery as back up units. A detailed HP model in combination with the storage tank is developed that accounts for thermal comforts and requirements, and defrost mode. Data analytics is applied to generate demand and generation profiles, and a hybrid energy management and a HP control algorithm is developed in this work. This is to integrate all active components of a building within a single complex-set of energy management solution to be able to apply demand response (DR) signals, as well as to execute all necessary computation and evaluation. Different capacity scenarios of the HWST and battery are used to prioritize the maximum use of renewable energy and consumer comfort preferences. A flexibility range of 22.3% is achieved for the scenario with the largest HWST considered without a battery, while 10.1% in the worst-case scenario with the smallest HWST considered and the largest battery. The results show that the active management and scheduling scheme developed to combine and prioritize thermal, electrical and storage units in buildings is essential to be studied to demonstrate the adequacy of sustainable energy buildings. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Renewable Energy and Energy Storage in Smartgrid Perspective)
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18 pages, 10120 KiB  
Article
Urban Systems Design Case Study: Tokyo’s Sumida Ward
by Michael B. Tobey, Robert B. Binder, Takahiro Yoshida and Yoshiki Yamagata
Smart Cities 2019, 2(4), 453-470; https://doi.org/10.3390/smartcities2040028 - 11 Oct 2019
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 5289
Abstract
Meeting the needs of increasing environmental and systematic pressures in urban settlements requires the use of integrated and wholistic approaches. The Urban Systems Design (USD) Conceptual Framework joins the metric-based modeling of rationalized methods with human-driven goals to form a combined iterative design [...] Read more.
Meeting the needs of increasing environmental and systematic pressures in urban settlements requires the use of integrated and wholistic approaches. The Urban Systems Design (USD) Conceptual Framework joins the metric-based modeling of rationalized methods with human-driven goals to form a combined iterative design and analysis loop. The framework processes information for the fundamental element of cities—humans—to large-scale modeling and decision-making occurring in district- and ward-level planning. There is a need in the planning and design profession to better integrate these efforts at a greater scale to create smart communities that are inclusive and comprehensive in aspects from data management to energy and transportation networks. The purpose of this study is to examine the applicability of this method as it pertains to a model and design integrated approach. Northern Sumida Ward, located in Tokyo, exemplifies the contextualized needs of Tokyo, and Japan, while forming a coherent internal community. Focusing on methodology, our process explores the creation of typologies, metric-based analysis, and design-based approaches that are integrated into modeling. The results of the analyses provide initial evidence regarding the validity of the USD approach in modeling changes to complex systems at differing design scales, connecting various qualities of the built environment, building and urban forms, and diagnostic comparisons between baseline and change conditions. Because of some inconsistencies and the need for further evidence gathering, the methods and processes show that there is much work to be done to strengthen the model and to continue building a more productive field of USD. However, in this framework’s continuing evolution, there is increasing evidence that combining the planning and design of urban systems creates a more resilient, economically viable, sustainable, and comfortable city. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Big Data-Driven Intelligent Services in Smart Cities)
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